1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a thermal sub-system for a fuel cell system and, more particularly, to a thermal sub-system for a fuel cell system, where the thermal sub-system employs feed-forward control to determine the speed of the pump that pumps a cooling fluid through the sub-system.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Hydrogen is a very attractive fuel because it is clean and can be used to efficiently produce electricity in a fuel cell. A hydrogen fuel cell is an electro-chemical device that includes an anode and a cathode with an electrolyte therebetween. The anode receives hydrogen gas and the cathode receives oxygen or air. The hydrogen gas is dissociated in the anode to generate free protons and electrons. The protons pass through the electrolyte to the cathode. The protons react with the oxygen and the electrons in the cathode to generate water. The electrons from the anode cannot pass through the electrolyte, and thus are directed through a load to perform work before being sent to the cathode. The work can act to operate a vehicle.
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are a popular fuel cell for vehicles. The PEMFC generally includes a solid polymer-electrolyte proton-conducting membrane, such as a perfluorosulfonic acid membrane. The anode and cathode typically include finely divided catalytic particles, usually platinum (Pt), supported on carbon particles and mixed with an ionomer. The catalytic mixture is deposited on opposing sides of the membrane. The combination of the anode catalytic mixture, the cathode catalytic mixture and the membrane define a membrane electrode assembly (MEA).
Several fuel cells are typically combined in a fuel cell stack to generate the desired power. For the automotive fuel cell stack mentioned above, the stack may include two hundred or more individual cells. The fuel cell stack receives a cathode reactant gas, typically a flow of air forced through the stack by a compressor. Not all of the oxygen is consumed by the stack and some of the air is output as a cathode exhaust gas that may include liquid water and/or water vapor as a stack by-product. The fuel cell stack also receives an anode hydrogen reactant gas that flows into the anode side of the stack.
It is necessary that a fuel cell stack operate at an optimum relative humidity and temperature to provide efficient stack operation and durability. A typical stack operating temperature for automotive applications is about 80° C. The stack temperature provides the relative humidity within the fuel cells in the stack for a particular stack pressure. Excessive stack temperatures above the optimum temperature may damage fuel cell components and reduce the lifetime of the fuel cells. Also, stack temperatures below the optimum temperature reduces the stack performance. Therefore, fuel cell systems employ thermal sub-systems that control the temperature within the fuel cell stack to maintain a thermal equilibrium.
A typical thermal sub-system for an automotive fuel cell stack includes a radiator, a fan and a pump. The pump pumps a cooling fluid, such as a water/glycol mixture, through cooling fluid channels within the fuel cell stack where the cooling fluid collects the stack waste heat. The cooling fluid is directed through a pipe or hose from the stack to the radiator where it is cooled by ambient air either forced through the radiator from movement of the vehicle or by operation of the fan. Because of the high demand of radiator airflow to reject a large amount of waste heat to provide a relatively low operating temperature, the fan is usually powerful and the radiator is relatively large. The physical size of the radiator and the power of the fan have to be higher compared to those of an internal combustion engine of similar power rating because of the lower operating temperature of the fuel cell system and the fact that only a comparably small amount of heat is rejected through the cathode exhaust in the fuel cell system.
The fuel cell stack requires a certain cooling fluid flow rate to maintain the desired stack operating temperature. The cooling fluid flow rate has to be large enough so that the fuel cell stack does not get hot spots that could damage the cells. Various system parameters determine the cooling fluid flow rate including, but not limited to, the current density of the stack, the cooling fluid temperature, the cooling fluid viscosity, system pressure drop, valve position, etc. For a thermal sub-system employing a centrifugal flow pump, the cooling fluid flow correlates to the system pressure drop because there is no independence of pressure as in displacement pumps.
Because fuel cell systems are thermally sensitive, the cooling fluid flow typically requires a flow controller, such as a proportional-integral (PI) feedback controller, well known to those skilled in the art. Feedback controllers typically require a proportionally controllable pump. Because the pressure is unknown, the actual cooling fluid flow is necessary for the flow controller.
Currently, flow sensors are used to measure the flow rate of the cooling fluid in the coolant loop, and a suitable algorithm is employed to compare the measured flow rate to the desired flow rate for the particular operating parameters of the fuel cell system. However, flow sensors used for this purpose are typically not reliable. Further, these flow sensors are large, heavy and costly. It is desirable to eliminate the flow sensor from the thermal sub-system of a fuel cell system.